The NRA Snubs Obama

“Why should I or the N.R.A. go sit down with a group of people that have spent a lifetime trying to destroy the Second Amendment in the United States?” said Wayne LaPierre, the longtime chief executive of the National Rifle Association.

Yeah, that's a good example of tough talk like you find in high-school locker rooms. Blustering braggadocio that need not be grounded in reality is what you expect from 15-year-olds. But you have to wonder what La Pierre is up to. He's certainly no dummy, earning seven figures annually.

It's his listeners and fanboys who lack the ability to put two and two together. The folks who have "spent a lifetime trying to destroy the Second Amendment in the United States" are few and far between. The ones invited to this meeting are mainly well-meaning people who genuinely want to find common-ground solutions.

For example, a White House adviser on Monday said Mr. Obama wanted to redefine the gun debate to “focus on the people, not the guns.” The president, in his column, cited the same policy areas Mr. LaPierre mentioned as fertile ground for consensus. And Mr. Obama emphasized, “First, we should begin by enforcing laws that are already on the books” — a line long used by the gun lobby.